The Road Less Traveled By
by maybe1721
Summary: Daniel Bryan reminisces over his career the night before an NXT Takeover event when he encounters his greatest in-ring rival, Nigel McGuinness. When Nigel & Bryan catch up, it's apparent that while their lives may have strayed far from one another's for years, they both have one big thing in common now: They're forced out of the ring. But the ways they got there differ greatly.


_Fair warning that I tweaked Nigel for this story – I don't think anybody considers Nigel to be jealous of Bryan or bitter, he's a true class act & inspiration. This is fiction._

Daniel Bryan glanced around the cheery Toronto bar he was spending some of his Friday night in. Bryan was in Toronto to see the next night's _NXT Takeover Toronto_ event, excited to see the quality wrestling that he knew would take place. Still, as he sipped his innocent glass of water and glanced around from his stool at the young wrestlers in the establishment, Bryan felt a twinge of heartbrokenness when the thought crossed his mind for the millionth time that he would never wrestle again. Bryan placed his glass on the bar and rubbed the back of his now-cleanly groomed head, his mind's eye racing over various mental images from the course of his in-ring career that would eventually contribute to his sudden retirement. All the diving headbutts, stiff elbow shots, thunderous suplexes, hard dropkicks.. All of his championships and accolades had come at a severe price, but Bryan was still unable to draw himself away from the wrestling business. Even when he felt frustrated with the WWE's system itself, he could always find enjoyment in shows by other promotions, including WWE's NXT. Bryan raised his head to look around the bar at the young talent around him again.

Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, DIY, stood beside a pool table, chatting excitedly and glancing often in the direction of Bobby Roode, who sat gloriously and relatively quietly at a booth in the corner of the bar, talking with Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, and Roderick Strong. Bryan smiled seeing the four men together, remembering his intense, hard-fought battles against the latter three in Ring of Honor. He would always look back on his days of elbowing Roddy from the crucifix and mocking Joe on the microphone with a different kind of fondness – these memories were from a time in which they were all young and prodigious, each being hailed as some of the greatest in the world of the new millennium at the very least. Still, they had been underpaid and ignored by several major companies, most notably WWE, for years. Now, each man was breathing new life into their careers.. but Bryan would never compete again.

He blinked, shifted his gaze, and looked instead at his water. Sometimes he wished it was a different kind of beverage entirely.

Suddenly, a thick British accent overtook the air, catching the attention of Bryan and several others.

"The American Dragon himself! What in the bloody hell are you doing here?"

Bryan turned around to see the smiling face of his greatest in ring rival, Nigel McGuinness. Bryan grinned at his old friend, his eyes moving from Nigel's now-shortly trimmed brown hair to the man's slightly intoxicated-looking facial expression. He rose and shook hands with him and then embraced the Englishman, warmly remarking "It's been too long, man." Nigel still had the mischievous glint in his eye that Bryan remembered from their youth.

"I'll say! Way too long," Nigel replied, a slur in his speech almost evident. "I'd still be throwing out lariats if I could, mate."

Bryan smiled sadly, sitting back on his stool and gesturing for Nigel to accompany him, to which the older British brawler obliged.

"Well you know what they say, all good things must come to an end, right?" Bryan said, trying to sound cheery.

"Ah, I suppose you're right. But that doesn't mean that it's right for all good things to come to an end. Don't ya think?" Nigel swayed slightly on his chair, his tone borderline bitter.

"No, it's not." Bryan answered quietly, shaking his head. He looked back up at Nigel, and at where the englishman's blonde spikes of hair used to be - spikes of hair that he had streaked red plenty of times in matches, Nigel's blood seemingly dying parts of crimson in battle. "But it's a good thing you got all that gel out of your hair, huh?" he quipped with a laugh.

Nigel smirked and rolled his eyes. "You used to look like a bloody caveman, Bryan. I don't plan on taking any fashion advice from you."

Bryan chuckled and sipped his water. "Fair enough."

Nigel scratched his chin and looked away, saying hurriedly, "I guess it doesn't matter what you look like if you win enough championships on national television, does it?"

Bryan set down his water and furrowed his eyebrows in a display of slightly irritated confusion, turning his full attention to the Brit. "What exactly do you mean by that, Nigel?"

Nigel sighed and shook his head, raising a hand as a white flag. He took another breath and said "No, Bryan, I don't mean anything by it. You just had a lot of success in the WWE."

Bryan bit his lip for a brief moment, choosing his words carefully. "I worked very hard for my success, you know that. Just like I know how hard you worked for yours."

Nigel nodded. "Right. Of course. I just had a few less _WrestleMania moments_ than you, didn't I?"

Bryan flinched. Nigel, in his prime, was arguably the greatest wrestlers in Ring of Honor. While Bryan had been signed to WWE, Nigel had not been cleared by WWE's doctors and had thus had his contract which had been talked about and agreed upon "in principle" rescinded by the company. Nigel was too hurt to accomplish his dream of being WWE champion. Bryan felt a sharp throb of sympathetic pain for his old rival and legitimate friend.

"Well, that's in the past. The time for our WrestleMania moments is over," Bryan said, changing his body's positioning to attempt to act unoffended by Nigel's previous comments.

"I don't know, mate," Nigel said with a grin. "I may be signing with WWE to do commentary. I'm not entirely sure yet."

Bryan smiled at the Brit. "That would be great, Nigel."

Nigel nodded happily and turned to the bartender, ordering a simple shot of Jack Daniels before turning back to Bryan. "Would you like a drink?" he offered.

Bryan shook his head, tapping his water with his finger – "I'm good, but I appreciate it."

Nigel whistled through his teeth slightly. "Right, right."

A brief silence drifted between the two men before Bryan broke it, asking, "So Nigel, you might do commentary, that's great. How's your personal life been? Wife, kids?"

Nigel's lip stiffened a bit. "No, never settled down." He accepted his shot from the bartender, absent-mindedly rubbing his thumb around the rim of the small glass before looking back at Bryan with a grin. "I see you're practically John Cena's brother in law now, eh? Ya blokes got those twins, double trouble," he chuckled.

Bryan laughed with him. "They're no trouble, really."

Nigel's grin increased. "Oh please, you're all on a reality show, aren't ya? How could there not be trouble?"

Bryan shrugged, still smiling. "I don't know, man. Things are good."

Nigel let out a slight guffaw, shaking his head. "Just wait a few years, mate."

Bryan looked at the Brit, a bit annoyed but not rude. "No, there won't be."

Nigel pursed his lips for a second, then quickly downed his shot and stood up. "Of course not. Not for Daniel Bryan."

Bryan watched with sad wonder as Nigel left the bar.


End file.
